Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.

In the tape, obtained by satellite television station Al-Jazeera and then posted on its website on Wednesday, Bin Laden said France was aiding the Americans in the killing of Muslim women and children in an apparent reference to the war in Afghanistan.

He said the kidnapping of five French citizens in the African nation of Niger last month was a reaction to what he called France's oppression of Muslims.

Scroll down to see the Al-Jazeera video

A grab taken from the video shows a photo of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and a blurred picture of what appears to be policemen pulling off a woman's veil to reveal her hair, in a new audio message from Bin Laden

'How can it be right that you participate in the occupation of our
lands, support the Americans in the killing of our women and children
and yet want to live in peace and security?' said Bin Laden, addressing
the French.

'It is a simple and clear equation: As you kill, you will be killed.
As you capture, you will be captured. And as you threaten our security,
your security will be threatened.

'The way to safeguard your security is to cease your oppression and
its impact on our nation, most importantly your withdrawal from the
ill-fated Bush war in Afghanistan.'

The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified but
the voice resembled that of the terror group leader on previous tapes
determined to be genuine.

Tapes by Bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Egyptian-born Ayman
al-Zawahri, have recently been posted on the Al Jazeera website rather
than on sites run by militant Muslims as has been done for years. The
shift appears to reflect the unexplained technical difficulties or
closures experienced by the militant sites in recent months.

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'You need to think of what happened to America as a result of that
unjust war,' Bin Laden said, again addressing the French and referring
to the war in Afghanistan.

'It's on the verge of bankruptcy... and tomorrow it will retreat to
beyond the Atlantic.'

France passed a law this month that will ban the wearing of
face-covering burqa-style Muslim veils in public, starting in April.
Many Muslims have expressed fears the law would stigmatise them.

Bin Laden said: 'If you deemed it your right to ban (Muslim) women
from wearing the hijab, then should not it be our right to expel your
invading men by striking their necks?'

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an offshoot of Bin Laden's group,
has claimed responsibility for the abductions of five French citizens in
Niger and is believed to have taken them to neighbouing Mali.

The French hostages, as well as a Togolese and a Madagascar national
were kidnapped on September 16 while they were sleeping in their villas
in the uranium mining town of Arlit.

'The kidnapping of your experts in the Niger is a reaction to your
oppression of Muslims,' said Bin Laden.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb grew out of an Islamist insurgency
movement in Algeria, merging with Al Qaeda in 2006 and spreading through
the Sahara and the arid Sahel region. It has increasingly been
targeting French interests.

In July, the group said it executed a 78-year-old French aid worker
it had taken hostage three months before. It said the killing was
retaliation for the deaths of six Al Qaeda members in a French-backed
military operation against the group.

Also in July, the French military said it provided technical and
logistical assistance to help Mauritanian forces thwart an attack by
suspected Al Qaeda members in north-west Africa. It said the operation
left six extremists dead.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy later described that operation as a
'turning point' and said France would provide training, equipment and
intelligence to local troops working to fight militants in the Sahel.

A series of warnings has put France and other European countries on
high alert in recent weeks, prompting the U.S. State Department to
advise American citizens living or travelling in Europe to take more
precautions.

Speculation on the source of a potential terror threat in France has
focused on Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.